American Go E-Journal » 2016 » December

European Go Congress 2017: The 2017 European Go Congress has been moved from Turkey to Sochi, Russia (Sochi). More details here.

Australian Go Congress: The Australian Go Association, Sydney Go Club and Sydney University Go Club have announced that the 2017 Australian Go Congress – the third such Congress — will be held at Sydney University between September 28th and October 1st 2017. Further details will be released in the coming year.

Canadian Open 2017: After two years in eastern Canada, the Canadian Open is tentatively scheduled for Vancouver on the July 1st to 3rd weekend. Once the venue is confirmed the Canadian Go Association will post more details.

Osaka Go Camp/Japan Go Congress: The Kansai Kiin will host the 5th annual Osaka Go Camp June 25th to July 13th, 2017. The second Japan Go Congress will be held from July 14th to 17th. Registration is now open; click here for details on both.This year more than 80 participated in the camp and 300 attended the congress.

US Go Congress: And while we’re at it, just a reminder that the US Go Congress will be held August 5-8 in San Diego, California. Read the latest news here.

We love to hear about and promote go events around the world; send us details at journal@usgo.org

The third edition of the European Youth Go Team Championships (EYGTC) has begun. It’s once again taking place on KGS. The competing teams represent either individual nations, or a group of nations. For each match, the teams must field five players, one from the Under-20 age range, two from the Under-16 age range, and two from the Under-12 age range. The full details can be found here.

Round 1 took place on Saturday the 3rd of December. The scores were as follows

In a related film, Daniel Acheson, who sent in this item, also reports that “A relic from the time of World War II, Frank Capra’s 1945 propaganda film ‘Know Your Enemy — Japan’ mentions go.” Acheson writes that the film speaks of “attempts to eradicate Western influence in Showa-era Japan” and asserts that “Western card games were purged in favor of [go]” which they refer to as “a game of super chess.” The narrator then notes, “somewhat threateningly, that it is ‘a game of military strategy.’”

When Biblioteca de México La Ciudadela, one of the most iconic public libraries in México City, celebrated its 70th anniversary on November 26, go was part of the festivities. In addition to a go exhibition where the public could get a glimpse of what the game is about — watch a video here – there was a children’s tournament on December 4th, where 28 kids from 4 to 12 years old played on 9×9 boards in a four round tournament. A special thanks goes to Karla Consuegra, Subdirector of Information Services at Biblioteca de México, who has played a great role in supporting implementing go activities at the public library.
Winners report, top 5:
1st- Lia Sánchez; 2nd- Syd Espinosa; 3rd- Livier Sánchez; 4th- Jazhiel Martínez; 5th- Fedra Alcántara

Although Go Game Guru is closing its go shop and Baduk TV, it plans to keep going, most likely with a focus on writing about go. “We can’t keep up with everything we’ve been trying to do anymore,” reports founder David Ormerud. “The Go Game Guru team has made lasting contributions to the world go community,” said American Go E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. “Kudos to David, Jing and Younggil for their impressive work over the last six years; we look forward to continuing to work with them after a well-deserved break.”

Stephanie Yin 1p (right) represented North America in the recent BingSheng Cup World Women’s Go Championship. Oh Yujin 3p from Korea took first place. The 7th (QiongLong Mountain) BingSheng Cup World Women’s Go Championship was held in Suzhou, JiangSu province in China from November 11-17.

The BingSheng Cup is a single elimination tournament of 16 players. After the first tournament in 2009, it has become one of the most prestigious women’s tournaments. In the opening ceremony, draws were made between the 16 participants, followed by special performances and a luxurious dinner. A very strong field this year attracted passionate local players to spectate throughout the tournament. At the closing ceremony (left), players celebrated the birthdays for Hua, Xueming (female 7dan pro, the leader of Chinese national team) and Hsieh, Yimin 6dan Japanese pro.

“It was my first time to compete in an individual world women’s championship,” Yin told the E-Journal. “I was quite nervous but also excited. After the draws took on the first day, I got to play Song, RongHui Chinese 5 Dan professional player. We are from the same generation of the go world. Our records were pretty close when I was actively competing in China before I came to the States.” The game commentary is below. “The game actually is very exciting. I was so close! I was ahead all the time but I made a silly mistake at the end game and I lost 2.5 points. I reviewed the game with a lot of Chinese pros.”

Top European players on AlphaGo and the future of go: “I was in shock,” says Thomas Debarre 6d of France. “I felt a bit disappointed with the quality in the sense that not one game was countable at the end,” said Merlijn Kuin 6d of The Netherlands. “The 21st century is and will be ‘the age of go,” says Mateusz Surma 1p of Poland. “The future of go isn’t easy, but not because of AlphaGo,” says Diána Kőszegi 1p of Hungary (photo). Kim Ouweleen interviews with top European players on AlphaGo and the future of go are available on the European Go Federation’s website.

BGA Go Crossword: “I see from your recent item, Catching Up: Obama on go, AlphaGo helps predict the future, and more, that Roy Laird is a crossword fan,” writes British Go Journal Editor Bob Scantlebury. “Others with a love of crosswords as well as go may like to check if their British Go Association (BGA) membership is up to date if they have one (or sign up , if not), as the upcoming Winter edition of the quarterly British Go Journal (BGJ) will feature a bumper, go-themed 19×19 competition cryptic crossword.” But be warned, Scantlebury says, “this is a British-style cryptic crossword, as featured in UK broadsheet dailies — and with a difference.” The BGJ is free to BGA members; the Winter edition will be out in early January and sent out in hard copy, as well as being available in pdf online to those who are members.

Go in New Master of Orion: “I was recently playing the new Master of Orion video game, a remake of the renowned turn based strategy classic video game,” writes Guillermo Molano. “This game takes place in a fictional galaxy where many races compete while expanding by colonizing solar systems. While playing I found a solar system named Go, another one named Fuseki, and a last one named Tesuji. I don’t know if there are more systems with more Go references. Perhaps its not that surprising since Master of Orion is a strategy game and it was developed by a studio in Argentina. That country has the strongest players in all Latin America.”

Sixteen players took part in the annual NOVA Slate&Shell Open last Saturday, December 10. Josh Lee 6d was the overall winner with a 3-1 score. Other first place winners in their divisions were: Joel Cahalan 1d, Patrick Sun 5k, Anderson Barreal 8k, Robert Cole 12k, and David Palmer 16k. Second place finishers were Gary Smith 9k, Tony Blagrove 11k, Betsy Small13k and Tonya Perez-Lopez 20k. Prize winners are shown here with books donated by Slate & Shell.- report/photo by Gurujeet Khalsa, tournament director.

Go is featured in the League of Legends Azir champion skin preview, reports Daniel Chou. “In a pre-release video teaser, we see Azir sitting in front of a Goban as he recalls back to the Fountain. League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) where two teams battle each other to capture important objectives on the map in order to reach and destroy the enemy team Nexus. Each player selects a champion to play for the duration of a game. Occasionally the player would recall his champion back to the fountain to regenerate in-game champion stats and to spend earned gold on upgraded items.”

“The champion Azir appropriately pays homage to go; according to League of Legends lore, Azir was the Emperor reawakened after millennia lying dormant beneath the desert that overtook the once-powerful Shurima Empire.” Click here for more info on Azir.

Chen Yaoye 9p has bested Ke Jie 9p to win the 2016 Bailing Cup 3-1, locking up the title in a hard-fought Game 4 on December 15. Click here for Stephanie Yin 1p’s game commentary on the AGA’s YouTube channel.